Relationships - social exchange theory

Question 1

what is social exchange theory

Answer 1

Thibault and Kelley (1959)
- romantic partners act out of self interest in exchanging rewards and costs

Question 2

what are rewards, costs and benefits

Answer 2

• minimise losses and maximise gains (minimax)
• judge satisfaction in our relationships based on profits

Question 3

what is comparison level

Answer 3

• measure profit based on the amount of rewards we believe we deserve to get
• influenced by social norms
• relationships is worth pursing of CL is high

Question 4

what is comparison level for alternatives

Answer 4

• could we gain greater rewards and fewer costs from another relationship
• stay in current relationship as long as we believe it is more rewarding than the alternatives

Question 5

what are the 4 stages of relationship development

Answer 5

Sampling stage
- explore costs and rewards by experimenting in our relationship

Bargaining stage
- start exchanging rewards and costs, see which is most profitable

Commitment stage
- source of costs and rewards more predictable
- relationship more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen

Institutionalisation Stage
- norms of the relationship in terms of costs and rewards established

Question 6

what are the strengths of social exchange theory

Answer 6

Lawrence Kurdek (1995)
- asked homosexual and heterosexual couples to complete questionnaires measuring commitment and SLT principles
- higher commitment = most rewards, fewest costs

Question 7

what are the limitations of social exchange theory

Answer 7

Argyle (1987)
- we don’t monitor costs and rewards or consider alternatives until after we are dissatisfied
- considering options is caused by dissatisfaction not the opposite